Patt Morrison of the L.A. Times shares a bit of history from L.A.’s transportation past. She tells the story of the planned Beverly Hills Freeway in the late 1950s and of the opposition it faced from none other than Beverly Hills. Morrison thinks there’s a lesson to be learned from this story as it relates to Beverly Hills’ current issues with the planned Westside subway.

Is fear keeping Americans off public transit? Although you’re far more likely to die or get hurt driving a car than being victimized by a criminal on a bus or train, a new study suggests that many people are scared to ride transit. Another study looked at Green Line stations in L.A. and found that the highest crime rates were at stations in the poorest neighborhoods. The question remains: what can transit agencies do to combat the perception of danger on transit?

So the Giants won the World Series, but the real competition (at least for transit nerds) is which team has the most transit friendly stadium. The nerds at CaliforniaStreets.org give the pennant to the Giants in that race as well – the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, TX is surrounded by a sea of parking lots (with no mass transit service, as we noted in yesterday’s headlines) while the Giant’s AT&T Park in San Francisco is surrounded by mixed use development and is easily accessible by train, bus and even ferry. Just for fun I’ve thrown Dodger Stadium into the mix — check out the image below for a visual comparison of the area surrounding the three stadiums (all at the same scale). The Dodgers do have development plans for the area outside the stadium, including more greenspace, shops, restaurants and a museum devoted to the team.

Well… What we need to do at Dodger Stadium is the following:
1. Dodgers need a serious owner who values the team and the city (a Arte Moreno type)
2. The Dodgers need to advance on their Stadium renovation plans and eliminate parking spots and add a viable village type area, a real Dodgertown (like in Boston/Chicago Cubs/Seattle/San Fran/San Diego)
3. Dodgers need to get some pitching! (like a Lincecum)